

The virus is commonly transmitted by needles, and thus may be associated with injecting drug use.


Most adults who get hepatitis B have a short illness and overcome the infection. Sometimes we find a donor with new (acute) hepatitis B infection. Many of the donors we identify have been infected with the virus for years and are completely well. If we find surface antigen and/or the virus nucleic acid in a donor’s blood then further tests are performed to confirm the result. The third is an anti-core screening which will identify if the donor has had Hepatitis B previously. The second looks for the virus itself, targeting the virus nucleic acid. One looks for a marker called hepatitis B surface antigen, which is part of the ‘coat’ of the virus. Most donors we identify have an association with these areas of the world and appear to have been infected since childhood or in early life. Hepatitis B is very common in many parts of the world where it is often transmitted from mother to child at birth or in infancy. Hepatitis B virus (HBV): is one of several viruses that can cause inflammation of the liver (hepatitis), and sometimes liver damage.These antibodies remain in a person’s blood many years after the infection has gone.Ī positive test for syphilis often relates to an infection in the past, but we are not able to use blood if the test is positive. The tests we use look for specific antibodies to the bacterium.
#Pinta syphilis skin#
Yaws and Pinta cause skin and joint problems.Īll three diseases are fully treatable with antibiotics. Syphilis is usually a sexually transmitted infection which, if untreated, can cause serious disease. This family of bacteria can also cause tropical diseases called Yaws and Pinta. Syphilis: is caused by a bacterium called Treponema pallidum.What tests do we carry out when you donate blood? If the test results show that you can no longer give blood, then you will be given specific advice. If the result is significant to your health you will be asked to discuss the results with one of our clinical staff and, with your permission, we will arrange a referral to your own doctor or a specialist. If this is the case, we will inform you and offer you appropriate advice. If your blood is reactive on any one of the screening tests, further tests are carried out to confirm whether the result indicates a true infection. The tests are carried out by computer-controlled automated machines which can test many samples both quickly and easily, so helping us to get blood to the hospitals as fast as we can.Īny donation that is reactive on any one of the screening tests cannot be used. We also test for infections that can be passed from donor to patient via a blood transfusion. We test for your blood group, so that we can select the correct group for the patient. The tests play a very important role in ensuring that we provide a safe blood supply to patients. Sometimes the tests cannot be done, for example - if you give an incomplete blood donation or no blood samples are obtained, or if we cannot take a donation because of poor veins or you have too low a haemoglobin level for blood donation. However, there are some additional tests that may need to be done on some donations as necessary. Most of these tests are mandatory, in other words we must carry them out on every single blood donation, whether this is your first donation or one of the many you have given over the years. These samples are used to perform a range of screening tests in our laboratories. You may have noticed that each time you give a blood donation we also take blood samples.
